NEW BEDFORD — Starting guards Andrew White and Mason Vasconcellos took turns carrying the scoring load for Wareham High as the first-place Vikings handed GNB Voc-Tech a 67-42 defeat Sunday afternoon at the Janiak Field House.

BILL ABRAMSON

NEW BEDFORD — Starting guards Andrew White and Mason Vasconcellos took turns carrying the scoring load for Wareham High as the first-place Vikings handed GNB Voc-Tech a 67-42 defeat Sunday afternoon at the Janiak Field House.

White scored 15 of the first 24 points for Wareham (7-3, 6-1 South Coast Conference) in building a 24-16 lead before Vasconcellos had recorded a point in the scorebook. Then, Vasconcellos scored 16 of the next 23 Wareham points, including seven of the final eight points of the first half and nine of the first 15 points of the second half.

"Andrew has been inconsistent, but with flashes," Wareham coach Kevin Brogioli said. "We're looking for consistency (like today) and that's what we hope he can do. I liked the early points that set the tone for us. We came out in the right mindset."

With Wareham safely ahead, White moved inside from the perimeter and made four straight baskets in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 23 points.

Vasconcellos got his first point from the foul line with 1:37 to go in the half. When he missed the second free throw, the offensive rebound was sent back to Vasconcellos, who dropped in a 3-pointer after missing his first six shots from the field. The basket began a 6-for-6 shooting spree for the Vikings captain, and he finished the half with a straight-on trey for a 32-20 lead.

"Mason is a shooter and we want him to keep shooting," Brogioli explained. "He's our most consistent shooter and we want the ball in his hands."

While Wareham started the second half with a miss and five turnovers, GNB Voc-Tech (4-3) used three inside hoops by senior center Nick Portelance (15 points) to offset a steal and lay-up by Vasconcellos (16 points) and close within 34-26. A 9-0 run by Wareham expanded to 16-4 to end the third quarter with a safe 50-31 lead.

"Give credit to Wareham," GNB Voc-Tech coach Boomer Rodrigues said. "They came here, played very well and Mason shot the lights out."

While Wareham was 7-for-21 from 3-point territory, the Bears were a shocking 1-for-22 from behind the arc.

"Some days, the shots are there and some days they're not," Rodrigues said. "We had a lot of open threes against their 1-3-1 zone, but you have to hit them. We got the looks we wanted, we just couldn't make them."

While Portelance was a threat in the early going, the 1-3-1 zone kept him under wraps. GNB Voc-Tech's other main scorer, Macabe Martins was 0-for-11 from the floor, including 0-for-9 in 3-point attempts. He scored three points from the line.

"Martins has been one of our top scorers for six games and he had one bad game," Rodrigues reasoned. "I'll take six out of seven every time."

WHAT IT MEANS: Wareham holds onto first place in the SCC with one league loss. Old Rochester is second with two losses and GNB Voc-Tech dropped to third. Had the Bears won this game, the top three teams would have all had two league losses.

BROGIOLI: "It was alarming how we started the third quarter. It wasn't the way we wanted, but we closed out the way we wanted."

RODRIGUES: "We hadn't played in 12 days and we have a big week coming up with games against Fairhaven and Old Rochester."

PIVOTAL SEQUENCE: After the Bears closed to 34-26, Latroy Hairston made two free throws, Cy Bariteau scored from the inside, Vasconcellos hit a 3-pointer and Bariteau broke the press for a lay-up and a 43-26 lead.

NOTES: Wareham has already played 10 games and will be off until its game at Old Rochester a week from Tuesday.